Adolwyn, Cannwyll, Cragen
by LlewellynPrince
Summary: Iruka burns a candle.


Adolwyn, Cannwyll, Cragen

* * *

Red candles symbolize health, energy, strength, sexual virility, and courage. The man.

He wished for courage.

Pink symbolizes romantic love, affection, and friendship.

He wished for affection.

Yellow is the color of intellect, the powers of the creative imagination, memory, communication, and mental agility.

He wished for memory.

Blue is the color of healing, truth, inspiration, higher wisdom, occilt power, pyschic protection, understanding, and good health. The woman.

He wished for understanding.

Gold represents positive influences, justice, and career matters.

He wished for justice.

Silver represents clairvoyance, astral energies and channeling, memory and remembering past lives.

He wished for memory.

White candles symbolize purity, spirituality, and peace but also death and mourning.

He wished for peace.

Seashells symbolize sun and the ocean, fun.

He wished for the sun.

The day his parents died Iruka gripped his mother's seashell necklace and watched the candles burn on the top of the memorial stone; white, red, blue, yellow, and silver, a gold as well, that he couldn't bring himself to light it.

He watched them all burn into nothing, the Hokage standing behind him, hands on his shoulders, whispering the lullabye Iruka's mother used to sing.

His parents had wished that he would have a happy life.

He wished they would come back.

Sandaime wished he knew how to comfort the small boy, whose eyes were hollower then even the most haunted ninja.

The day Iruka first learned about Naruto he burned a white and gold candle and pulled out his mother's old necklace making box, staring at it for hours before shoving it back under the bed, then worked for 78 hours straight until Sandaime snuck up behind him, knocked him out, and put him to bed.

The day he first met Naruto he tripped over him. The seven year old blond was curled up in the street, black and slightly blue and Iruka hadn't seen him at first, only noticing him after he'd tripped.

Iruka had recognized him of course, it was impossible not to and he'd sat dumbly in the dirt for an hour before deciding what to do.

He brought the boy to Sarutobi, then took his anger out on the Hokage in a training battle, he was good enough by then to put up a damn good fight. He burnt a white candle that night, holding his mother's seashell necklace so tightly that the edges cut into his hand.

He wished for them back.

The next day, Sandaime asked for his opinion on the small blond haired, blue eyed boy that was responsible for the destruction of his world.

Iruka cried, screamed, raged, and collasped.

Sandaime wished he knew how to help him, but settled for holding the boy until he feel asleep.

Exactly one week later Iruka burns a red and blue candle, wishes for something he can't remember and spends the day playing with the small blond vessel.

A month later, on his birhtday, the aniversary of his parents death, he stands infront of the memorial stone, burns a red, blue, gold, and white candle, and points his parents names out to Naruto.

He almost criess when his fingers touched their names, carved into the cold stone and then blinks in amazment when Naruto reaches out an impossibly small hand to trace the kanji in jerky, untried motions.

Iruka lets Naruto rest his hand on his and shows him the motions.

A week later, he becomes a teacher at the academy, he burns a red candle, holds his mother's necklace tight, and wishes for strength.

One year later and its Naruto's brthday, he's finally old enough to notice that village hates him and it falls to Iruka to explain why.

He can't, instead saying some people just don't understand. Naruto doesn't either, but puts on a brave front, nodding sagly with wisdom he doesn't have and argeeing.

That night Iruka takes out his mother's necklace making kit and makes another.

Naruto finds it on his nightstand the next morning and gleefully shows it off to the Hokage when he stops by Iruka's apartment that day.

His second year of teaching he meets a young Uhciha, the spiting image of his brother, alone as Naruto and Iruka in the world and Iruka burns a pink candle, promising to always look after him.

The next day he meets the rest of his class.

A genius so lazy Iruka has to wonder why he bothers waking up when Iruka hits him with an eraser.

Two girls more interested in their silent Uhciha classmate then any ninja art.

A clan heir so shy she could barely get a word out, who also had an adorable crush on Naruto. He likes her.

Another clan heir who carries his pet on his head and talks to him in class.

A third clan heir with a strange attachment to bugs.

And a boy who prefered food to air.

He prays they all make their wishes come true.

Years later and Iruka gives his headband to a tearful Naruto and watches as they take his best friend away.

He wishes he hadn't done it.

But he doesn't regret picking Naruto over Mizuki.

Two weeks later he assigned Sasuke Uhciha and Sakura Haruno to Naruto's genin team, he made sure they didn't see him laugh after the kissing incident.

He wishes they do well.

A week later he mets Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Nin, he burns every candle he can get his hands on and Naruto makes him promise not to kill his sensei until he gradutates.

He promises, reluctantly.

But he didn't say anything about being nice.

Naruto reports back three weeks later and says that Kakashi is under the impression that Iruka hates him and that Sakura and Sasuke seem to think Kakashi had a crush on him.

Iruka finds out later from Kotetsu and Izumo that Kakashi believed Iruka was in love with him and that was why Iruka was avoiding him, out of embaressment. Of course right after they tell him, they take cover behind the Hokage while he rants and rages for an hour straight about over confident stupid jounin.

Sandaime sent Kakashi out on a three week S class mission.

The jounin's pretty sure its punishment for something but for the life of him he can't figure out what.

The next time he sees Iruka, he teases him and goes flying through a wall before he even

realized what was happening.

The only reason the other jounins didn't get to corner Iruka was because he teleported out before they could catch him.

Kakashi wished he knew when the hell the chunnin had become so strong and so fast.

The genins tease him for a week after they learn about the incident.

A week later and the chunnin exams happen.

After that life.

Iruka prays that he taught Naruto well enough to survive and he's never felt more gratified or happy in his life then when Naruto and the others return from their training with the Sanin and their jounins and the blond boy, grown now at 18, tackled him the same way he always had as a little boy; tight enough to knock the air out of him, happy enough to make him smile. Talking exietedly about all the jutsu's he's learned and will Iruka-sensei help him practice them? Can they go for ramen tonight and he almost beat Sasuke-teme in training today! And can I sleep at your place tonight? We can stay up and talk!

The rest of the kids gather around as well, with their six new members, Gai's precious prodegy, the best female weapons master in Konoha, the hesitant, somewhat sameful Hyuga heir, whose still realing from Naruto and his gentle cousin's influence, the soon to be Kazekage of Sand, whose rather attached to Gai's precoious prodegy, his sister whose rather attached to the groups resident lazy genius, and their brother who thinks they're all crazy.

They make Iruka smile, especially as they gather around him excited to tell the man whose always been there everything that's happened and can he explain this joke Kakashi and Jiraya told cause they don't get?

Iruka's always been the answer man.

He wishes it always stays that way.

The next group that mobs him is made up of their current Hokage, her perverted teammate, her assisstant, a group of jounins that Iruka's pretty sure have been knocked on the head one too many times.

He's rather surprised that they're doing it, he's never actually gotten along with them all that well; especially the Copy-nin pervert that's now saying "Aw, Ruka-chan can I have a hug like Naruto?" right before he goes flying twenty feet in the air, Iruka's fist imprinted on the side of his face.

Iruka takes the kids and stomps off muttering about stupid jounins and perverts.

He wishes the jounin never comes down.

Kakashi wishes Iruka would see underneath the underneath.

A month later the Copy-nin jounin corners him in the mission room as he's closing up and finaly confesses what Iruka's begun to suspect.

"I-ur, well, um, I, I'm, ur I lo-lo, I lo-love y-you."

It's rather amusing the way the jounin ducks, expecting to be hit after tripping over his own nerves for ten minutes to finally get the words out.

Iruka smiles, and in his mind he burns a pink and white candle and lifts the jounin's head, kissing him gently, and he can feel the Copy-nin's surprise.

He kinda likes the way surprise looks in the Sharingan eye, he always has, but he likes it even better in Kakashi miss match ones.

He's surprised the jounin lets him seme.

Kakashi's surprised Iruka can make him scream with almost no work.

Iruka wishes that the jounin never leaves his arms.

Kakashi wishes that Iruka will never leave him.

Kakashi sits next to him that night, curled up against his side, while Naruto and Sasuke curl up in his lap, even at 18 they still fit perfectly, as Iruka burns a white candle.

Kakashi and Sasuke have seashells hanging around their necks and when they sleep that night, Kakashi is curled up on Iruka's chest and Sasuke is sprawlled next to Naruto.

They sleep with the necklaces on and the scratches in the morning are worth it.

A few years later, Iruka stands back and watches as Naruto is made Hokage, Iruka's the one who iniates him, something Naruto requested.

It seems fitting that the first person to ever believe in him and his dream should be the one that does it.

As he stands and excepts the loyatly of the Konoha nins, Naruto wears a seashell around his neck, with Iruka at his shoulder.

Naruto wishes that Iruka will always be there.

Iruka wishes that Konoha realizes the gift that it has.

The others wish that things never change.

And that night the entire village burns gold, silver, and white candles.

* * *

…darfod… 


End file.
